Japan findet Deutsch super

The German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reports that German has become a trendy language in Japan. Apartment complexes are named “Wohnung” or “Grünwald.” A store for writing utensils carries the name “Freiheit,” and a glossy magazine for businessmen is labeled “Goethe.”

For Shinichi Sambe, Professor of German at Keio-University, does have a possible explanation: When Japan connected with the rest of the world at the end of the 19th century, Germany became something like a positive model. Germany, which at that point had barely transformed into a modern nation, was also going through important changes. On a more specific level, the German language became important when German doctors, engineers, and technicians were imported to modernize the country. To this day a patient’s file is called “Karte,” an operation “OP,” an allergy “die Allergie.”